The jaunty whistling tune just couldn’t help but erupt from between Arzie’s lips as he strutted around the deck of the Thames, checking telemetry data from this console and that one as he went.

As far as tests went, this probe wasn’t an unmitigated success, but he’d be content to call it an ‘opportune failure.’ The probe he had sent into the barrier was able to send back about an hour or data before onboard sensors told him that the shielding and hull would have been compromised beyond safety tolerances had it been a crewed vessel. Still, he was able to quantify many of the variables that previous scientific research had been unable to.

Now, as the Thames plodded on a slightly skewed positive-Z course back to Tahnna’Whanna IV, Arzie continued his whistle.

‘I thought you’d be disappointed your new hull composite did not work.’ His Romulan apprentice piped up, watching the joviality in her Master’s attitude.

‘Oh, I am, but this is enough data to work with for quite some time.’ The Elder Scientist responded. ‘Enough, in fact, that I dare say I could shelf the Barrier Project for a bit and get back to work on the Dimensional Science leads I’ve been meaning to follow.’

Ishae let out a non-committal, ‘Hmm.’ But not much more made it out before the runabout’s sensors began to beep. She turned herself in the cockpit’s leather bucket seat and began to look over the readout. ‘Huh.’ She said simply.

‘”Huh?”’ Repeated Arzie, turning it into a question. What do you mean, “Huh?"’

‘Sensors are picking up a subspace distortion in a system about a half-a-parsec away.’

Forty-five minutes later, the Thames dropped out of warp in the Wierlee System. Ishae had pointed out that the readings were coming from the farside of Wierlee II, an O-Class planet they’d bump into in a few minutes.